Hobbiton – The Shire – The Wandering Sunflower

TODAY WAS THE BEST DAY EVER.

I WENT TO HOBBITON.

I SAW THE BEAUTIFUL SHIRE.

I WALKED THE PATHS OF BAG END.

I can’t believe that I was finally able to go.

I remember falling in love with Tolkien when I was just in middle school.

Now, here I am, years later and I saw where so many of the hobbit shenanigans were filmed.

I STILL CAN’T BELIEVE IT.

It was everything I dreamt it’d be..

We started out our day with arriving on the grounds for our tour. Upon arrival, we were whisked onto a big, green bus plastered with The Hobbit logo across the back.

Slowly, the driver pulled out onto the road that led us down to the completed set and we were immediately stopped by about a billion sheep that were crossing the road. Literally. It was pretty cool, actually.

After patiently waiting for the sheep to cross, we were finally off. The drive down to the set was only about 15 minutes and our driver was hilarious and full of film trivia. Great start to the tour.

Once we arrived to the set, we exited the bus and began the walking tour. Our tour guide had introduced herself on the bus as Rosie and immediately my first thought was, “Oh, that’s gotta be some sort of a fake name joke thing.. No way is that really her name.. ” But it turns out that it was aaaaaaand get this, another tour guide’s name there is Sam and he just so happens to be her roommate. WHAT. Already this tour was off to a magnificent start.

Anyway, we start walking through The Shire and instantly, I’m mesmerized. Okay, actually I’d been mesmerized since I’d gotten out of the car.. But anyway..

The entire area was gloriously beautiful. Each hobbit hole was so intricately decorated and built.. All of the trees were vibrant and green.. Even the paths to walk on were bright yellow and colorful.

I was completely taken aback by the intricacy of the entire place and by all of the strenuous work that each member of the crew put into making Hobbiton vibrantly come to life. For example, the tree that sits behind Bilbo’s house was originally found elsewhere and then cut into 25 different pieces and then put back together on set. And then, later on when they wanted to start filming The Hobbit, they wanted to use the same tree but it had previously died and they still wanted to use it, so they sewed 200,000 fake leaves onto it. The whole process took two years to complete.

WOW.

Dedication.

The whole of the set was just as detailed and meticulously perfected as that one tree. Such an astonishing thing to behold. Especially for a Tolkien lover such as myself.

Rosie let us meander as we pleased throughout the whole of the grounds (for the most part – some parts were roped off). Every so often, she’d pull us all back together to tell us more about filming and I learned so much that I hadn’t previously known but I’m still just so excited and over the moon right now that I can’t think of anything because my mind is a blur of colorful hobbit holes and bright pastures.

At the end of the tour, we all met up at The Green Dragon, just like in the films and were given a complimentary ale/cider to gulp down like Pip and Merry (okay, maybe I was the only one gulping it down but that’s because I’m so dedicated that I actually forgot that I, in fact, am not Pippin or Merry.. ).

At the end of the tour, there’s a cafe called The Shire’s Rest that has a gaggle of hobbit foods and snacks to gobble down if you so please. And of course I did. So get this, I actually ordered “second breakfast.” YES. It was literally an item on the menu.